Four Words
by mspolapotter
Summary: "I don't know what I ever did to deserve your love," he said, looking her straight in the eye. "You'd abandon your friends. Let this world that you adore fall and you're just willing to forget about it. Why would you sacrifice everything for me?"


First one-shot of 2016 woo!

Just like most of my spur-of-the-moment Dramione oneshots, this comes from a song recommended by Nadinne. I hope you enjoy your tears, my love. This particular story was inspired by These Four Words by The Maine. Enjoy!

For clarification: Events take place in the Half Blood Prince timeline.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter = not mine

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 **Four Words**

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"It's the perfect plan—"

"Hermione—"

"We wipe our memories of everything else except each other and live as Muggles—"

" _Hermione._ "

"What?"

"We can't do that."

In a castle of thousands of students it's hard to find somewhere isolated. But as they say, seek and you shall find.

And so here they were. Him, blonde and lanky, adorning a tie of silver and green, a snake emblazoned on his chest. Her, of slim figure and wild hair, wearing a gold and red tie, and a lion emblem above her heart. They should have been sworn enemies but the way they moved with each other indicated otherwise. She held his hand firmly in her own, his was gently placed against her waist.

The walls that surrounded them were firm and rough, filled with tiny little cracks that had come with the castle's age. Albeit its torn appearance, the small alcove kept this meeting a secret from prying eyes.

It was a dark time for all. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has declared war. Albus Dumbledore has fallen at the hands of one of his most trusted men, who is now nowhere to be found.

"Harry plans to go in search of the remaining Horcruxes," she told him. "Ron plans on coming with him."

"What about you?" he asked.

"I've got other plans."

Their Shakesperean love affair began in a bathroom: him sliced up by an ancient dark spell, and her coming to the rescue, mending his wounds completely and taking care of him in the Room of Requirement for over a week. It was there that they discovered that they had mutual feelings for each other.

He would have wanted it another way. Who wouldn't? He was a danger to her. His family swore against her kind. But he couldn't resist her: fierce, caring, beautiful, intelligent. Only a fool wouldn't be entranced by her charm.

She had been denying it for so long. She has always been captivated by him: charming, witty, striking, bold. She'd insisted that she wanted nothing to do with him, but fate caught up, and after being locked in just one room together, she did what she had always wanted to do—kiss him.

But this was getting too far, he knew that. They couldn't escape. They couldn't run away. If he had learned one thing in his life it's that running gets you nowhere, because everything you run away from will always catch up with you.

"We can do this," she insisted. "We elope. We replace our memories and live as Muggles in the States. We will be none the wiser."

"Hermione, do you realize what we'll be leaving behind?" he asked her. "This world—our world, could lay to ruin. And we won't even have a say in who wins this war."

"I'm tired, Draco," she cried. "Six years of nothing but fighting. Not knowing whether or not I'll win, but fighting anyway. This once—just this once—I want to make sure I don't lose everything. Because if I get to keep one thing after all of this, I want it to ne you."

"Have you forgotten the point of this charade we have to keep up?" Draco chastised. "We have to protect our own sides if we want to come out of this alive."

"Who says we have to choose sides?" she replied. "Why can't we just choose each other?"

More than protect their sides, he has to protect her. He knew just what his side was capable of. They will find them, eventually. And when they do, she will suffer more than him.

He sat down on the bench in defeat. At this point he had no idea how she could change his mind. She stood over him, the moonlight bouncing against her figure, making her look like an angel. In a sense, she was his angel. She had saved him, in more ways than one.

It was his turn to save her.

"I don't know what I ever did to deserve your love," he said, looking her straight in the eye. "You'd abandon your friends. Let this world that you adore fall and you're just willing to forget about it. Why would you sacrifice everything for me?"

She sat down beside him and rested her head against his chest.

"Because, I love you, stupid," she replied.

And in a snap, he knew how to stop her. Four words. Four words could change everything. He could protect her. In doing so, he would have to lose her.

"But…I don't love you."

Immediately, she let go of his hand. She lifted her head and looked at him in horror, waiting for him to say something.

" _What_?"

"I don't love you," he said again. "Why would you ask me to run away with you?"

She stared at him in disbelief. "So what was this, then? A game? A bet?"

"This? This was nothing. This has always been me."

In a split second, her palm made contact with his right cheek. He deserved it, probably. It was a hard decision, then again, this just wasn't about love.

This is war. And he will do anything to keep her alive.


End file.
